Treasure hunt game board and clues



April 21, 1953 R. e. cooNEY TREASURE RUNTGAME BOARD AND cLuEs FiledSept. 12, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET l l IIL Y R v, E mM N m0. R VWM M .l W DKY 4 B April 2l, 1953 R. B. cooNEY TREASURE HUNT GAME BOARD AND cLUEs 2SHEETS--SHEET 2 Filed Sept. 12. 1950 Patented Apr. 21, 1953 TREASUREHUNT GAME BOARD AND CLUES Ralph B. Cooney, New York, N. Y. ApplicationSeptember 12, 195,0, Serial No. 184,434

' This invention relates to amusement devices and has special referenceto a game played with a board provided with concealed instruc-tions.

The object of the invention is to provide a game which has some of thecharacteristics and the interest and excitement of a treasure hunt. Thegame has a special appeal for children, but many older people will alsofind it amusing and interesting.

A better understanding of the invention and its outstandingcharacteristics will become more apparent after a perusal of thefollowing description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the front face of a boardconstructed in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional viewtaken along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of aportion of the board with the facing sheet removed; Fig.v iis a planView of the front face of the envelope; Fig. 5 is a plan view of thefirst clue to one of thehidden compartments provided in the board; Fig.6 illustrates the type of implement which maybe employed in playing thegame and Fig. '7 is a plan view of a folded clue contained in one of thehidden compartments.

The Iboard of this invention is composed of a backing I upon which issuperimposed an intermediate section or layer I I and a facing sheet I2.The backing I0 and the intermediate section II are made of relativelystiff cardboard or other like material. The intermediate section I I issubstantially thicker than the backing Il] to which it is adhered in anysuitable manner, as by glue, and such section is provided with a numberof apertures which, together with the portions of the backing I0underlying such apertures, form recesses I3 under the facing sheet I2.The number of such recesses I3 is optional and dependent upon howcomplicated the hunt is to be made. The location of such recesses I3 isalso optic-nal and dependent on the ornamentation upon the facing sheetI2 and the complexity of the hunt for which the board has been devised.The facing sheet I2 is frangible and ispreferably made of a sheet ofpaper which has suflicient thickness or opaqueness to conceal therecesses I3 from the view of the player and yet which may be readilyruptured in the areas defined by the recesses I3 by means of a smallimplement such as a pencil or the toy shovel I5 depicted in Fig. 6 ofthe drawings. Preferably, the facing sheet I2 is attached to the boardby first connecting an edge portion I4 thereof by means of a suitableadhesive to the upper rear edge portion 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-453) of thebacking IIJ (note Figs. 2 and 3) and after such adhesive has dried,folding they sheet over the upper edges of the backing I0 and section IIand then adhering it with the :aid of adhesive to the front face ofsection II while placing the sheet undertension. When adhered in thismanner to the board, the facing sheet I2 will be stretched tautly overthe recesses I3 and will have no telltale depressions hinting `at thelocation of the recesses I3 therebeneath.

The facing sheet I2 is provided with any desirable drawing, picture orother grap-hic representation. In Fig. 1 of the drawings, the :facingsheet I2 is shown provided with a picture of a country `scene in whichcertain features thereof are arranged in registry with the recesses I3.Thus, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, a recess I3 underlies thesignpost IB, the bush Il, the haystack I8, the clump of bushes I 9, thebush in front of the covered bridge 20, the gate entrance 2l, thedoorstep of the abandoned house 22, the anchorage of the springboard 23,the corner of the barn 24 and the foot of the tree 25. It will beunderstood that while in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the aforesaid recessesare indicated in dotted outline for the purpose of explanation, suchdotted lines do not appear on the facing sheet and there is noindication whatsoever on such facing sheet as to the exact location ofthe recesses in relation to the identified areas. In each of suchrecesses I3 there is provided a folded piece o-f paper 26 having writtenmaterial thereon worded to provide a clue as to where another recessunderlies a particular feature of the picture. The initial clue iscontained in the written matter provided on a sheet 21 enclosed in anenvelope or other suitable container 28 attached 'to the back of thegame board (note Figs. 2 and 3). In such envelope 28 there may beprovided a toy shovel I5 or other implement enabling the player to breakthe facing sheet I2 to iind the clues.

The physical construction of the board is no-t particularly vital to thepurposes of the invention. A suitable board may be made of cardboard, asabove explained, or wood, or molded thermoplastic material, or any othersuitable material. 'I'he board also may be made in one piece instead ofseparate layers I0 and II, as illustrated. The facing sheet I2 may bemade of any suitable frangible material and have a rectangular form asindicated in the drawings, or any other configuration suitable to thegraphic representation depicted thereon. Obviously the graphicrepresentation on the sheet I2 may be substantially varied withdifferent boards to prorecess I3 will underlie such feature and willVpermit the portion of the facing sheet concealing the same to be brokento enable the player to obtain the clue 26 contained in such recess.This clue will give the playera hint. as towhere the next clue 29 may befound and he proceeds in this manner until he has uncovered all of therecesses and obtained al1 of the clues. the last paper 2E, of course,advising him that he has successfully completed the game. l

Thefacing, sheet I2 is preferably only adhered by aportion of its areatothe section II so that after a game has been completed itA can beremoved from the board. Furnished with the boardare a numbern of sheetsLZ-havingsimilar graphic representations thereon so that they can besuccessively adhered to the board to enable successive players to trytheir skill in discovering all-of the clues. Asis shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each sheet I2 has a frame 30 provided thereon to enable theplayer to place a sheet exactly in proper positionin the section II sothat the graphic features thereon referred to in the clues 2t and 2llare in registry with their corresponding recesses or compartments I3.Whenthat position has been determined, the flap IIV of such sheet canbey vsecured to the back of the board, the clues 26 replaced in theirproper positions and such facing sheet secured in position on thefront'face of the board in the manner previouslyl described. Tofacilitate this operation, each of the clues and therecess into whichsuchclue should be returned, are designated by corresponding numbers; asis indicated by the numeral I applied to the clue 2S, shown in Fig. 7 ofthe drawings, and the numeral I applied to the inner surface of therecess designated I3' in Fig. 3 of the-drawings.

I claim:

A game apparatus adapted to be played with a plurality of connectedclues including a starting clue and all of which clues except thestarting clue, are concealed in the apparatus, and comprising a playingboard having a flat backing of substantial thickness and provided with aplurality of recesses which open on the upper surface of such backingand' are arranged in irregular, spaced relation within the area of saidboard to provide irregularly sized portions of the board between suchrecesses, a facing sheet superimposed upon said backing so as to concealsaid recesses, said facing sheet being constituted of an unbrokenfrangible material having on its outer surface a graphic representationprovided with aL plurality of different, distinguishable features ofgraphic material arranged in irregularly spaced relation within therepresentation as a whole, such features of graphic material eachoverlying a recess in said backing, having a configuration dierent fromthat ofthe recess therebeneath and being ofvsuch a nature as. to give'nohint of the exact location of such recess, and a clue contained in eachof said recesses and concealed by the overlying graphic feature on saidfacing sheet, each of said clues being constituted of a sheet of paperand all, but one, having written matter thereon giving a hint to theplayer as to a particular part of the feature of graphic materialoverlying another recessand clue, said clues providing a progressivesequence for the consecutive discovery of,

all of the clues concealed in said recesses beneath predetermined partsof the graphic featureson said. facing sheet.

RALPH B. COONEY.

References cited in the me. of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,932,524 Jackson Oct. 31, 1933 2,006,620 Barrett July 2, 19352,095,111 Triolo Oct. 5, 1937 2,109,603 Worth Mar. 1, 1938 2,165,891Freedman July 11, 1939 2,460,208 Zalkind Jan. 25, 1949

